Klipsch Horns Are a Little Harsh

[ss7380]

I have a question regarding the Klipsch horns. I have never owned Klipsch speakers and recently purchased the RF-3's. They sound great for the most part, but I notice that some highs (female vocals,screaming guitars, etc.) are a little harsh(too high) to my ears. Is this resolved after a break in period, a limitation of my receiver(Harmon/Kardon AVR-310) or is this characteristic of Klipsch speakers?

[Ray Garrison]

Would be helpful to know:

What were you listening to before you got the RF-3's?

Room characteristics - how big? where are speakers and listening position situated? what's the room like?

Do you think they sound too harsh at all volume levels, or only loud levels, or something else?

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Music is art

Audio is engineering

[ss7380]

Ray,

Prior to this, I had some Boston Acoustics but not nearly the quality of the Klipsch's. The room is approx. 15' x 25' with the mains on the 15' wall slightly toed in. Listening position is dead center about 12-15' from speakers. The tone is much more noticeable at high volumes. It is more of a piercing high tone than anything else. The sound is not distorted or unnatural, it is just uncomfortable to my ears. I have tried several different receivers (Onkyo,Yamaha,etc.) with the same results. This only occurs on certain types of music where highs are accentuated. Other types of music sounds great.

Thanks in advance.

[Wookie99]

quote:

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Originally posted by ss7380:

Ray,

The sound is not distorted or unnatural, it is just uncomfortable to my ears. I have tried several different receivers (Onkyo,Yamaha,etc.) with the same results. This only occurs on certain types of music where highs are accentuated. Other types of music sounds great.

Thanks in advance.

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I found this to be the case also when I auditioned my RF-7 in the showroom. In my home environment they sound much more domesticated. I suspect you may have a lot of reflective surfaces? Hardwood floors? Brick wall? Tile? Short nap carpeting? Glass? My environment is a bit more forgiving with absorbant materials around them, and they sit in corners on a shorter wall as sentries to a big box TV, on modest pile carpet.

Of course mine are ON the floor, and I am sure that makes a diference. I just recall almost passing on the RF horns because they hurt my ears in the sound room. I have not experienced that in my home environment in any music genre except maybe a strident whiny female vocalist. Klipsch horns ARE unique in there timbre and may not be for YOU.

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WS-65908 Mits RPTV

Klipsch RF7

Klipsch RC7

Phase Tech PC-1000

B&W 601

Yamaha DSP-1

Nakamichi TA-4

Kenwood Sovereign 5900M -Prog. scan changer

Velodyne Sub

[soundog]

What is your source equiptment? CD player, etc. I agree with the previous post ... if you have a lot of reflective surfaces you will need absortion and diffusion material .... Klipsch speakers have very sharp and distinct highs ... this is both an advantage and a disadvantage .... what is the surface like at the first point of reflection? .... if its reflective thats a good point to start to experiment.

[Prana-Bindu]

I had the same problem with my RF-3's being run by a Luxman LV-117 integrated amp (solid state). The harshness was tamed quite a bit when I switched to a VTL IT-85 integrated amp (all tubes). Being a necessitous man, I have not been able to experiment with room treatments very much (the couch has to go somewhere, after all). However, I do notice a silkier sound from the left channel. It may be that the couch is taming the brightness of the speaker on the first reflection; whereas the right channel bounces off a plaster wall in its first order reflection. Nevertheless, the tubes do a far more extensive job of smoothing out the highs than whatever accidental room conditions are in effect with my system.

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May the bridges we burn light our way....